For Parents, a Wake-Up Call About Activist Groups

Colorado may receive proposed legislation to make selling a cellphone intended for a child under age 13 years of age punishable by steep fines. While I wholeheartedly agree that no child under 13 should have a cell phone, mandating what parents can and cannot buy their children crosses sacred boundaries that are as important to any American adult as the right to free speech.

Parents should always be in charge of their children — not government officials, physicians, psychologists, or any other group of individuals, as well-intentioned as they might be.

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We have seen the government’s “concern” for children rear its head before. In 2016, Texas and other states considered mandating that parents immunize their children.

Yes, medical studies clearly show that immunizing children is good not only for the children who receive vaccinations but also for those with whom those children come in contact. We physicians often encounter parents who refuse to follow our medical advice, as rational and even correct as that advice may be.

But parents should always have the right to make decisions about their children’s well-being according to their own moral, religious and ethical beliefs.

Let us parents take this news as a wake-up call to pay attention to activist groups, like Parents Against Underage Smartphones, who work to impose government mandates on parents.

If they do eventually pass this legislation in Colorado, what will be next? Will parents be fined for buying their children hamburgers from McDonald’s, potato chips at the grocery store, or guns to help teach their children to hunt deer? As much as any of us may disagree with others parents’ decisions, we must fight for all parents’ right to parent their children as they see fit.

Related: The Secrets of Raising Happy Children

Once we allow politicians to tell parents how to raise their children — we begin a fast slide down a very slippery and dangerous slope.

Dr. Meg Meeker has practiced pediatrics and adolescent medicine for more than 30 years. She is the author of the new book, “Hero: Being the Strong Father Your Children Need” (Regnery Publishing, May 2017), as well as a number of digital parenting resources and online courses, including The 12 Principles of Raising Great Kids.